degenerative
Getting steadily worse
Degenerative describes conditions that progressively worsen over time, typically through deterioration of tissue or function.
The term appears most often in medical contexts: degenerative disc disease, degenerative arthritis, a degenerative nerve condition.
What makes something degenerative is not just that it's bad, but that it gets steadily worse.
Degenerative brain disease
- Parkinson'sNeurodegenerative motor disorder
- ALSMotor neuron disease
- Huntington'sInherited neurodegenerative condition
- dementiaChronic cognitive impairment
osteoarthritis · Charcot-Marie-Tooth · amyotrophic · neurodegenerative · progressive · chronic · incurable · terminal
Wasting from disuse
- wastingUsing poorly, inefficiently
- shrinkageDecrease in size
- erosionGradual wearing away
- breakdownFailure or decomposition
cartilage · disc · joint · bone · muscle · nerve · retinal · spinal
Process of declining quality
- worseningBecoming more severe
- progressionSequential forward movement
- regressionReturn to former state
- decayGradual organic breakdown
degradation · loss · impairment · weakening · diminishing · gradual · irreversible · slow
Gradual functional decline with age
- elderlyAdvanced in age
- age-relatedTied to chronological progression
- geriatricRelating to elderly care
- presbyopiaAge-related near vision loss
osteoporosis · frailty · cumulative · mobility · stiffness · gerontology
Alzheimer's
Degenerative brain disease
- Parkinson'sNeurodegenerative motor disorder
- ALSMotor neuron disease
- Huntington'sInherited neurodegenerative condition
dementia · osteoarthritis · Charcot-Marie-Tooth · amyotrophic · neurodegenerative · progressive · chronic · incurable · terminal · diagnosis
atrophy
Wasting from disuse
breakdown · cartilage · disc · joint · bone · muscle · nerve · retinal · spinal · cellular
deterioration
Process of declining quality
- worseningBecoming more severe
- progressionSequential forward movement
- regressionReturn to former state
decay · degradation · loss · impairment · weakening · diminishing · gradual · irreversible · slow · steady
senescence
Gradual functional decline with age
- elderlyAdvanced in age
- age-relatedTied to chronological progression
- geriatricRelating to elderly care
presbyopia · osteoporosis · frailty · cumulative · mobility · stiffness · gerontology
- medical termsdiagnosis, disorder, surgery, disease, illness
- medical adjectivessurgical, cardiac, orthopedic, malignant, respiratory
- medical descriptorsacute, chronic, mild, moderate, severe
- medical conditionsdisease, disorder, illness, syndrome, cancer
- bone termsskeletal, osseous, bony, fractured, spinal
- prognosispoor prognosis, favorable, unfavorable, guarded, grim
degenerativeregenerative
Able to renew itself
restorative · healing · reparative · curative · self-healing
degenerativeacute
Intensely severe or perceptive
transient · reversible · temporary · episodic · curable
degenerativeregenerative
Able to renew itself
generative · progressive · improving · renewing · revitalizing
- degenerative diseasesConditions causing gradual deterioration
- macular degenerationRetinal disease causing central blindness
- degenerative conditionDisease causing gradual decline
- degenerative disc diseaseSpinal cushion deterioration condition
- degenerative discDeteriorating spinal cushion
- disc degenerationSpinal cushion deterioration